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You Have to Fish This Lake- Part 4
Friday night after the storms cold air moved into the area so the air temperature was only 43 degrees Saturday morning when we arrived at the lake. Water temperature at the ramp had fallen to 62 degrees with cloudy skies prevailing until the afternoon. Winds were from the north at 20 mph, churning up white caps on most main lake areas, making them virtually unfishable. Despite two days of success in the cold arm, we decided to start in the warmer, murkier water of the hot arm due to the effects of the cold front. In addition, there are several coves running west off the main lake of the hot arm that enable fishermen to get out of the rough water if winds are from the north or south. This was not your typical post-front day with bright skies. There was still some cloud cover and plenty of wind so we still had hopes of catching fish, but I suspected that we would have to slow down our presentation, fishing on the bottom and tight to cover with either plastics or jigs. We headed to the fourth cove north of the ramp where the water was 65 degrees. I had a jig and a lizard tied on in anticipation of pitching to wood cover. Tony got several questioning glances from me as he tied on green/white soft plastic jerkbait made by Gene Larew. I couldn't imagine why he was going to throw a weightless Senko or Fluke-type lure in that kind of wind. He got three bites and boated two fish faster than I could ask since I was too busy getting the net for his fish.
Once the flurry of action died down, I asked him about his unorthodox lure choice. He answered that he just felt that bass might respond to a slow horizontal presentation. The rest of the day proved that he was correct. I still expected to catch some fish on the jig or lizard, but neither one drew a strike. After a couple of hours trying to prove his fish were just "luck" and getting the net each time he caught one, I conceded my idea just wasn't working and switched to a green/white Senko. We both continued to catch fish throughout the day as long as we stayed in coves where our baits could sink horizontally and not be blown vertically through the water. The faster falling baits with weights just were not getting bites. Before the day was done, we would experiment with several colors and variations of soft plastic jerkbaits. The most successful had white and/or green in them, but color didn't seem to be critical. Tony boated one 17 1/2 inch bass on a black and blue bait.
Once again we caught more fish along bare banks than we did on wood cover. We tried the spinnerbaits and swim baits that had worked so well during the previous two days with no success. This trip was teaching us that presentation was everything. The fish had not moved far during the last several days, but they had definitely changed their preference for what would provoke a strike. At the end of the day, we had boated 21 bass, including two 18-inch keepers and seven more between 16 and 18 inches long. We were grateful for the action on a windy day that limited where we could fish. Coming Soon- Part 5- Back to reality. Our final morning would be a day similar to our first day, but would the results be as good? |
